


Rose-Colored Lenses

by marimoes



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Universe, Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:48:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21593335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marimoes/pseuds/marimoes
Summary: The thing it seems we forget about Doflamingo, and tend to lose within his design, is his glasses. No, not that we don’t remember that they’re there.Nor do we not recognize that it’s strange that he’s always wearing them, though that’s part of the point at hand. No, it’s the color.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	Rose-Colored Lenses

**Author's Note:**

> Someone already commented on tumblr that his glasses aren’t pink all the time. I’m aware. This is a study on the phrase “Rose Colored glasses”. It’s not that deep. 
> 
> Now, consider the bizarre man that Donquixote Doflamingo is.

The thing it seems we forget about Doflamingo, and tend to lose within his design, is his glasses. No, not that we don’t remember that they’re there. 

Nor do we not recognize that it’s strange that he’s always wearing them, though that’s part of the point at hand. No, it’s the color.

They suit him and his aesthetic well: a bright pink to go along with a bright coat, bizarre capris and open shirt. This much doesn’t call much question into his design at all by Oda’s standards.

If anything, we just accepted it and moved on. Perhaps we were meant to.

Rose-colored glasses that don his smirking face. Sitting atop the bridge of his nose and constantly covering his eyes. These are not lenses he had when he was younger.

No, those were dark. 

His world sheltered at first. Living in Marie Jois and getting whatever his heart desires all before having it ripped away. 

An instant.

A coin traded for a life of security. If they could’ve, those lenses would’ve changed from grey to black as Doffy blocked out the world he did not know.

That remained his life as he blindly lashed out at the world around him. The loss of his family as a whole shattering a piece of him he didn’t know he had in his heart. 

So, he replaced it.

Turned his world a shade of Rose. 

With new power and a new family at his side, the world was different. The world…was his. 

Ruling over the lands he touched with an iron fist and a low laugh. Burning everything that dared taint his view to the ground. Oh, how lovely orange and pink mix. 

Like a sunset. 

An ending to a perfect day amongst his own created paradise each and every time he conquered. Taking from others, but oh, no, he never saw it that way. The world was happy to reimburse him for the things he lost. 

The life he could’ve been living had it not been taken away. 

None of that mattering now. He had a new family. His brother was gone, likely dead, and so that was it. 

The end. 

It seemed that way, at least, to Doffy in his heart. A book that was shut and never again opened as it was placed away into a far removed bookshelf in himself. One haunted with dusted copies of childhood memories. 

The smell of his mother, the smile from his father, that tugging want of Rosinante at his heels. All tucked far away into a corner left to waste away. He didn’t need them. 

They were not rose-colored. 

So, when Rosinante returned. Eyes almost a different shade entirely, his heart and lungs black with silence, he was forced to pull it back out. Made to clean the book that he had put away, and while it was again under his arm, he refused to read it. The past is just that, to Doflamingo, and nothing more. 

Children came. Several of them Rosinante scared off, sending them back where they came from, but some stayed. Some that made the world even brighter, full of a type of life that he never got to experience. From them he took it, secretly stashed away the enjoyment that they had. 

How he too would’ve loved to have what they take for granted. 

Another shows up, cold and tired. His eyes show a world not unlike Doflamingo’s, and the rose in his eyes are closer to a red. He too remembers this feeling. 

Law is something different. Pulling in pieces that Doflamingo would rather forget, making him remember what it’s like to have everything stripped away from you. Remembering what the world is like when it’s grey. He’d love to change that for Law. 

He doesn’t know if he can. 

He takes off his lenses, never letting his eyes open to the world. Only rests instead. Darkness giving way to pink or the other way around, these are his options. These are the only realities that he is willing to accept. His world or nothing. 

Rosinante takes Law. Flees to find a cure that he isn’t sure exists, but doesn’t affect him anyways. It’s harmless, letting him take the boy. After all, he still has business that he needs to attend to. A world meant to be conquered. 

The world is still rose colored when Rosinante dies and Law disappears. It’s still warm against the cold snow, still beating close against his heart while the smoke dissipates from his gun. Everything is fine in the end, everything is pink. 

When Law comes back, hatred heavy in his heart instead of joy, Doflamingo is disappointed. This isn’t the world that he brought Law into. This isn’t the way that he’s supposed to feel. Look around Law! Isn’t the world pink?

Isn’t it everything?

Lying in the ground, glasses shattered on his face as Monkey D. Luffy bounds away, Doflamingo dare not open his eyes. What would it look like? That world beyond his shattered frames, now covered in destruction and failure. Loud with pain. 

What color is it?

His own blood leaks out of him, slow and red. A certainty he’s always aware of: that red blood. Just like everyone else’s in the world. Nothing special lives within him. His own life now a book to be placed back onto the shelf. 

Left to stay, dust ready to collect on it, greyed beyond recognition.

For now. 

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: @noswordstyle  
> Twitter: @__moes__


End file.
